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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "escrow account with no beneficiary" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Pascal Akossa <deliveryclaimcc1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: pascalakosaa1@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:44:26 -0700
Subject: Greetings to you,please i need your help very urgent.
Greetings to you.
My name is Mr.Pascal Akossa,the Finance director Cal Bank Limited
Ghana. I am writing you this proposal in good faith,I have packaged a
financial transaction that will benefit you and I,it is my duty to
send in a financial report to my head office at the end of each
business year. On the course of the last year 2013 business report, I
discovered that my branch office made excess profit of
(US$7.5MILLION).
I have placed these funds in Cal Merchant Bank escrow account with no
beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected
to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to present you as the
beneficiary so that my head office will facilitate the funds into your
account and get 30% of the total funds as your commission.
I intend to resign my position as a banker and relocate to your
Country in the near future. I would be very glad if you should
therefore confirm your willingness to assist in receiving this fund
before my final departure to join you for sharing and investing of
this fund.
Kindly reply with the information below if it interest you to be
collaborator to this Golding opportunity which i have in this bank
today.
Full Name: __________________
Address: ___________________
Nationality: ___________________
Age: _______ ___________________
Occupation: _____________________
Phone:________________ Fax:___________________
Cell phone: ___________________________
Country of Origin: ____________________
Thanks and God bless you
Mr.Pascal Akossa.
Tel:+233-231-215-875
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Anti-fraud resources:
